COFFEE PLANTATIONS OF CORTADE

Four habitations lie close together in the Cortade/Kotad pass of the Chaine des Matheux, near Fort Drouet and Habitation Lamothe (just below the fort). They are reached off the same road from Cabaret on the coast to LaChappelle in the Artibonite Valley. I saw LaSaline and part of Dion quickly on my visit to Drouet, but a setting sun and a motorcycle's flat tire kept me from full exploration. Barry Procter has kindly contributed photos of all 4 sites. A link to his blog post on this visit is available here. Check out ISPAN's extensive bulletin #18 on the sites; they're also mentioned in #4 and #16 and, briefly, in a few others. One of the standout details on these sites is a cornerstone at Lasaline that reads“FPT La Saline” and then “31 Aoust 1791,” a date just 2 weeks after the Haitian Revolution began in the north at Bois Caiman, illustrating that news traveled slowly or the fullness of French hubris.